Growth and Experience
by G.B. Dean
Summary: After the Cell Games, Gohan goes through a rough patch in his life when it comes to being his own person. Follow along as Gohan grows up into the powerful warrior he was destined to be.
1. Chapter 1

_I do not own Dragon Ball Z, any of it's characters, and any other property._

Chapter 1

As the sun rose over the beautiful mountainous region of Mt. Paozu, the rays of sunshine highlighted and enhanced the landscape. The water glistened within the lakes and ponds around the area. Majestic birds flying in their flock across the bright blue cloudless sky above the forest that contained many types of animals. Rabbits scurrying across the ground, squirrels crawling among the trees, and predators such as the sabretooth tigers and dinosaurs that reside here looking for their first meal of the day. This area of Mt. Paozu is the definition of serene and splendor and anyone lucky enough to be there, their mood would be lifted immediately.

The only house for miles within the area is the exact opposite of happiness. There's an aura of sorrow around it and the usual warmth within its walls is gone and replaced with an iciness that would send chills down the spine of whoever walked through the front door. While the rest of the world is celebrating life itself and praising it's "World Savior", the two who live on Mt. Paozu are grieving. The legendary warrior Son Goku has just recently sacrificed his life to protect a world that is oblivious to the real heroes and has decided to stay in Other World.

His son Gohan, has just awoken from a restless sleep filled with nightmares and memories of his mistakes. The sound of birds chirping and the cool autumn breeze flowing through his open window does nothing to lighten his mood. 'Hopefully, some training will make me feel better.' Gohan thinks to himself. He then gets up out of bed and gets ready for the day, slowly pulling on his purple gi that is a replica of the one his mentor Piccolo wears, without any of the energy this young boy usually possessed.

As he walks down the stairs his sense of smell is hit with an aroma of delicious food his mother Chi-Chi, is preparing for the both of them. "Good morning mother," Gohan says as he walks towards the table ready for breakfast.

Chi-Chi glances at him and looks him up and down before replying softly, "Good morning dear, breakfast is about done.". She sets down the piles of different food and Gohan starts digging in while Chi-Chi picks at her food and eats at a snail's pace.

As Gohan finishes up and tells his mother he is going out for training with Piccolo, he's stopped before he can go any further by his mother. "No, you will not," Chi-Chi states firmly "no more training for you.". Gohan turns around and looks at her with an obvious expression of confusion on his face.

"What why not?" he replies. 'She can't be serious, can she?' Gohan thinks incredulously. 'Without dad here I'm the protector of this planet. He trusted me with this role, and I can't just ignore it. What, does she want to place our trust in Vegeta's hands to save us all? He has a family now, but he still acts like he did when he first came here most of the time.'

Chi-Chi looks into his eyes and shows the most emotion since the fateful Cell Games ended. "Training and martial arts have done nothing good for this family and you need to become a scholar and spend most of your time studying to prepare. I will not have my son become an irresponsible delinquent who spends all day fighting and nothing else!"

"Ir-irresponsible? Nothing good?! We've saved the world multiple times because of our strength. We even saved an entire galaxy from an evil tyrant! Dad even earned money that supported us through competing and winning tournaments." Gohan replies. He stands there stunned by what his mother suggested, waiting for what she'll say next.

"You're not training and that's final!" Chi-Chi gets up from her chair and continues while clearing the table of dishes, "You are going to spend most of the day studying and are only allowed a couple hours outside, martial arts is too dangerous, and you can get seriously hurt or even worse out there. I'm doing this with your best interests in mind and you'll understand when you're older."

Gohan's eyes widen realizing what she's implying. "Get hurt? The only thing that could hurt me is some super-powered villain coming to destroy Earth and that's the exact reason why I need to keep training!"

Chi-Chi glares at him and Gohan shrinks away, watching carefully just in case she brings out her frying pan. "Don't talk back to me young man! Go upstairs, change out of that gi of yours seeing as you won't need it and get to studying and finish any assignments you have left. I'll order more textbooks and hopefully, they'll get there here soon. I'll be sure to check up on you occasionally, to make sure you're focusing on your work."

His shoulders slump down and heads back upstairs without saying another word. Changing into a white button-down shirt and black pants, he sits down at his desk and stares despondently at all the homework his mother provided for him. 'This is absolutely ridiculous. I have the power to protect this world and she's taking that away? Does she think studying is more important than saving the world?'.

True to Chi-Chi's word she checks up on Gohan to make sure he's doing what she said. As the hours pass by and lunch has passed, she goes back up to his room. "You can take a break, honey. In a few hours come back for dinner and then after get back to studying."

'Thank you, Dende you're the best!' Gohan says internally and bolts from his chair as quickly as possible to leave the house. Before he steps out the door, he hears his mother yell to remind him of no training and his mood instantly drops. 'Crap, I totally forgot!'

As he walks through the forest near his home, not noticing the lovely nature surrounding him he also doesn't the green and purple blur that lands nearby.

"Hey kid, I thought you wouldn't leave your room all day." Gohan spins around to see his mentor and friend, Piccolo.

"Oh, hey Mr. Piccolo. Yeah, I was trapped in there. I'm only allowed to be outside for a few hours a day now." Gohan replies. Piccolo tilts his head to the side and asks why. Gohan sighs and decides to tell him all about what his mom said.

"Hmmph, your mother always did seem a little crazy," Piccolo says with a smirk. "You know, you could train out here with the time you got. "

Gohan sighs and says "Yeah I was thinking about that too. I don't want to disappoint my mom, but no training is out of the question, I can't just get weak while I have a job as a protector to do. Although I'm wondering what I could do to hide it…" He puts his hand to his chin and starts thinking of ways to train without his mother noticing. "I've got it!" Gohan exclaims.

He looks at Piccolo seriously, "Piccolo, I need you to teach me the most important technique you've ever developed."

Piccolo thinks of what he could be thinking and asks, "The Special Beam Cannon?"

"That would be nice, but no."

"Hellzone Grenade?"

"Nope."

"Spit it out, kid."

Gohan smirks and says "Clothes Beam."

Piccolo looks at him weirdly and asks, "Clothes Beam? That is my most important technique?"

"Yup! It's perfect, materializing any type of clothing you want. That's how I can do some training without my mother noticing. I can leave the house with my normal clothes, and when I get out here, I can form a new gi so I can start and then when it's time to go back I can just form my original clothes." Gohan says cheerfully. The thought of being able to train, even for a few hours a day, is able to bring him some happiness.

"Alright kid that's a good idea. I'll give you a gi now and I can start teaching it." Piccolo materializes a purple gi for Gohan and takes flight, leading him to his favorite waterfall he spends time meditating at.

Once they land Gohan looks around at the surrounding area and then turns back to Piccolo, "I'm ready Mr. Piccolo!" Gohan says. Piccolo nods and sits down and motions for Gohan to do the same,

"Now we need to start with some meditation." Piccolo begins lecturing. "This technique takes mental power more than anything and a lot of focus. You need to first visualize in your mind what exactly you want. Imagine the clothing you and want and it would look like on you. Then pool some of your ki in your finger and point it at yourself and release."

Gohan does as he was instructed and begins to focus and a thin blue aura envelopes him. He imagines the gi his father was always wearing. Orange top and pants with a blue undershirt, blue sash, blue wristbands, and boots. He starts to gather ki within his index finger and visualizes what he would look like wearing it. 'Alright, I think I'm ready to try it out, here goes.'. He releases the ki held in his finger and shoots it towards himself and a white light covers him.

As he does this Piccolo keeps watch on Gohan to see how he does. When the light dies down, he lets out a small chuckle, something no one other than Gohan would ever hear, and tells Gohan to open his eyes and see how he did. Gohan lets out a breath and opens his eyes and looks down at himself and almost falls on his back. Gohan didn't utilize the technique correctly and sees he's wearing nothing but his boxers.

"Heh, looks like I'll need some more practice with this one," Gohan says sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head. He looks up to the sky and notices where the sun is and stands upright. "Oh man, my free time is already up. I need to get going, its almost dinner time and I don't want to make my mom angry."

Piccolo raises a finger and points it at Gohan and shoots a beam of ki at Gohan and in a white light the clothes he was wearing before materializing on his body. "You're close kid, maybe another day or two and you'll get it down. I'm heading back to the Lookout, Dende still has some things to learn as Guardian. I'll be back tomorrow for training." As Piccolo lifts off the ground and leaves, Gohan waves bye and begins heading back home.

As soon as he's able to see his home he hears his mother call out for dinner time. Gohan runs over after realizing how hungry he was. When he gets inside Chi-Chi asks if he had fun outside. Gohan nods and starts devouring his meal. As soon as he's done he goes back upstairs and plops down on his chair.

'Back to more homework huh.' Gohan lets out a deep sigh and gets down to work. After a while he looks out his window and stares at the stars shining like gems across the sky. 'If only you were still here dad. I understand why you stayed, but that doesn't mean I like it.'.

* * *

It's been a few weeks since his mother told him to stop training. Gohan continues to spend his free time with Piccolo to train. He learned the Clothes Beam so some days that Piccolo wouldn't go by he'd still be able to train by himself. Gohan started to become worried about seeing his mother throwing up each and every morning. As soon as breakfast is done he asks if she's alright.

"I'm fine dear. I wanted to head to Bulma's to have a quick check-up just to make sure though." Gohan nods and gets ready to visit Capsule Corp. When they leave the house Gohan calls the nimbus cloud and his mother hops on and starts their journey there. They travel together in silence, but Gohan is able to feel a bit better. The sun shining brightly and a cool breeze flowing across both. Flying has always been one of his favorite things to do and being cooped up In his room most of the day doesn't give him much to enjoy this simple pleasure.

When they arrive Gohan rings a buzzer that's next to the door. Above it, a screen flashes to life and see the blue-haired genius herself, Bulma Brief. She smiles widely and welcomes them in "Oh hey you two, I haven't seen you in a while come on in.". The screen goes black and the door in front of them slides open. As they walk through the large complex that is Capsule Corp. they come to the residential area and into the living room.

When the mother and son duo sit down on the couch they see Bulma walk in with a cup of coffee in hand and asks, "How are you guys doing, what brings you here?" afterward taking a sip of coffee.

Gohan smiles at her and his before his mother starts talking. "Oh, we've been doing just fine Bulma thank you for asking," Chi-Chi says and smiles at her. "Although I do have something to ask of you.". Bulma looks at her curiously and Chi-Chi continues. "Lately I've been throwing up in the mornings and was wondering if you could help me out."

"Not a problem, we can head over to the medical wing and give you a quick check-up. I've had to keep state of the art medical equipment around here because 'Mr. Prince of all Saiyans' can't go a day without training." Bulma replies.

"Where is Vegeta, is he in the gravity room?" Gohan speaking up for the first time getting there.

"Yeah, Vegeta practically lives there, if you want you can go there and spar while your mother and I go and see what's up," Bulma replies, but before Gohan can respond his mother beats him to it.

"Definitely not Gohan remember what I said, no more training," Chi-Chi says quickly. Bulma looks at Gohan who was looking down smiled sympathetically at him.

"Well, then I guess you could look around at some of my prototypes I've been working on while I go help your mother." She says and immediately Gohan perks up and smiles widely at her gives his thanks.

Bulma then leads his mother to the medical wing and Gohan decides to do what Bulma suggested and check out her prototypes. Gohan's amazed at all the different type of gadgets and inventions that are a work in progress. One thing that Gohan is interested in as much as martial arts is science. Seeing everything here gives him the thoughts of one day doing work similar to Bulma or even working with her at Capsule Corp.

After an hour passes by, Bulma enters the room with a bright smile on her face and tells Gohan they're done and has some big news for him. She leads him back to the living room where his mother is back in and they sit down. Gohan, who's been wondering what the news could be, finally asks, "What's up, is mom okay?"

"Yes I'm perfectly fine, but there's something I need to tell you." Gohan nods in response and Chi-Chi smiles and says, "I'm pregnant! Isn't that great dear, you're going to be a big brother soon!".

Gohan can't believe it. He's always dreamed of having a sibling and spending time with him or her. After taking a few seconds to process what he's been told and thinking of all the things he and his sibling can do together, "That's amazing!".


	2. Chapter 2

_I do not own Dragon Ball Z, any of it's characters and any other property._

Chapter 2

* * *

-Three months later-

"Hiyah!" Gohan yells out while throwing a counter-attack at Piccolo. Both of them have continued training together with the time they have. Piccolo has been getting Gohan to focus on defense more than offense. Trying to keep any signs of training to a minimum they both decided to put more emphasis into dodging and parrying attacks than charging head on and trying to keep the offensive. Wanting to allow his opponent to attack but keeping the upper hand by reacting to their movement accordingly.

Blocking his attack Piccolo crouches down and sweeps his leg attempting to trip Gohan. Acting quickly, Gohan front flips over Piccolo and roundhouse kicks him sending Piccolo flying to the side into a tree. Recovering, Piccolo rushes at Gohan and throws a flurry of punches and kicks. Gohan raises his ki a bit to increase his speed and dodges most of the attacks while having to block a few. Noticing an opening, Gohan throws an open palm strike at Piccolo to create some instance and phases out of sight. Piccolo uses his heightened sense of hearing and his ki sensing abilities to try and locate Gohan. He's too late as he notices Gohan coming down from above with a double kick aimed at his chest, causing Piccolo to skid across the ground leaving a small trail starting from where Gohan is currently standing.

Breathing heavily, Piccolo stands back up and ends the training session there. "Good job Gohan, we should end it here."

"Ok, Piccolo. I really needed this today. Being stuck inside so much is annoying as it is, but with mom's mood swings it's been worse." Gohan takes a deep breath and stretches his muscles a bit. Before he leaves, he materializes the same clothes he left with and waves goodbye to Piccolo.

'He's doing better than before. Learning he was going to be a big brother helped his attitude, he isn't as sad anymore.' Piccolo flies back to the Lookout and as his feet touch the white tile, he sees a small Namekian wearing a white robe walking towards him with a wooden staff.

"Welcome back, Piccolo. How's Gohan doing?" The Guardian of Earth, Dende, asks.

Piccolo looks over and moves towards Dende, "He could be better, there's an improvement, but after all he's been through, I'm not surprised he's like this still." Hearing how his friend is doing, Dende nods and stars walking back towards the palace.

"I hope his mother realizes soon that she's hurting more than helping. Someone like Gohan with all his potential shouldn't have his hobbies taken from him." Dende says, but before he can go any further, he's stopped by Piccolo.

Piccolo grunts and says, "I doubt it, the only way for that to happen would be for Gohan convincing her otherwise, but as she is now that doesn't seem likely." He starts walking alongside Dende then turns his head towards him and continues, "You've done a good job so far since you took over as Guardian, but you still have much to learn. Let's get started on your training."

Dende looks up and smiles, "I'm ready, I don't want to let anyone down."

* * *

-Three months later-

Usually, during their sparring sessions, Gohan would defend himself while Piccolo attacks, but today is different. Gohan seems agitated, most likely from not training as much as he wants. Attacking relentlessly, Gohan throws a wide combination of punches and kicks trying to land solid hits on his opponent. Gohan sends a kick straight into Piccolo's gut pushing him back a few feet before quickly flying around Piccolo's back, unleashing a Masenko wave point blank. Gritting his teeth in pain and stands back up quickly, getting into a stance.

'Hmmph, the kid is really putting in effort today. Wonder what's got him all riled up.' Piccolo thinks to himself as he throws another punch infused with ki to increase his power at Gohan. As he gets ready to block and go back on the offensive, they both hear a shrill voice shouting, echoing through the forest.

"Gohan, get back home, dinner is ready!" Chi-Chi yells out, getting her son's attention.

Losing his focus, Gohan can't put up his guard effectively and takes a hit to the face, bruising quickly from the force his mentor put behind that attack. "No! This is really bad; I didn't notice how long we've been sparring!" As quick as he can, Gohan changes clothes and flies back and lands before entering the clearing where his home is. Since he doesn't notice the bruise on his cheek, he goes straight inside to the table where the food is. Luckily, he starts eating and behind the mountain of food, Chi-Chi can't see his face,

Gohan finishes up and leans back rubbing his now full stomach. "Thanks, mom, that was great!" He gets up and while turning his head, his mother looks up to respond.

"You're wel- what is that?!" she practically yells out. Gohan looks back at his mother confused about what she could be talking about.

"What is it mom, did I spill anything on my clothes?" He asks innocently and proceeds to look down at his shirt to try and see what would cause his mother to yell.

Chi-Chi, with fire in her eyes says, "Don't play games with me young man you know exactly what I'm talking about, that bruise on your cheek, where did you get that from?!"

"A bruise?" His eyes widen and moves his hands to his cheek and winces when he comes into contact with it. Realizing that's exactly where Piccolo landed a punch right before he left, he tries to think of a cover story. Never having been a competent liar, he tries anyway, "This, um well you see, I was walking around I was distracted by some uh deers, and I wasn't paying attention and tripped on a tree root and um landed on a rock." Gohan stammers out. Praying to his friend Dende she'd buy it.

Unfortunately for him, she doesn't. "Listen here Gohan, don't you dare lie to your mother. I know, you probably got that from training with one of those ruffians you call friends. Even worse you were probably hanging around that monster Piccolo!"

Gohan, who is getting frustrated with his mother calling his mentor and friend a monster tries to reply to calm his mother down but gets cut off before he can continue.

"Since it seems I can't trust you to listen to me I will have to cut down on your free time. You will now only get an hour a day of free time and I will be doubling up your school work to make up the extra time you'll spend on that." Chi-Chi says sternly.

Shaking his head, Gohan begins to speak up and make his case, "But mom I already spend most of the day inside I can't just-" and he gets cut off again.

"Oh where did I go wrong?" Chi-Chi says dramatically, "My baby boy won't even obey his mother anymore, oh Goku I wish you were still here."

Gohan grits his teeth and heads back to his room. Trying to cool down after hearing that he'd have even less time to spend outside. He reluctantly finishes up the school work he had left to finish and decides to meditate afterward. By the time he's done, it's night time and stars are littered across the sky, easily seen with no light pollution. Gohan changes and gets in bed. Before he falls asleep his thoughts are centered around how his life might be different if his dad was still alive.

* * *

-Three months later-

The area of Mt. Paozu is picture perfect. The weather is incredible, clear skies, and a cool breeze sweeping through the air. A day like this promises great things to come.

Its been months since Gohan has been forced to stay indoors for even longer. Sitting at his desk, he closes one textbook and slides it to his right. Looking over to the left he sees the next one he has to get through. Sighing, he moves it closer to him and begins studying. Occasionally he would look out his window longingly, as someone with Saiyan blood running through his veins, not being able to fight more than what little he can makes him restless. It's been getting harder to fall asleep now, still having boundless energy needing to be unleashed, but being stuck inside has made it lay dormant, just waiting to be relinquished.

Gohan gets shaken out of his reverie once he hears his mother calling him from downstairs. He moves leisurely down the stairs, not looking forward to a possible lecture about how important studying is. It's not that Gohan doesn't understand the importance of school work, but he knows that she's going overboard with how much work she's making him complete. He's far surpassed other people his age.

"Yes, mom, what is it?" Gohan says, but as he finally reaches the kitchen, he notices his mother taking deep breaths and leaning against the counter.

Chi-Chi breathes in and out deeply before responding. "Honey I need you to help me get to Bulma's. I think the baby's ready." Gohan nods and gathers any and all essential items from his mother's room and goes back down. He then leads her outside while she leans against him and he calls out for Nimbus. In just a few seconds a bright golden blur shoots through the sky and stops in front of them. While holding his mother he easily gets on the cloud and instructs it to fly them to Capsule Corp.

As the mother and son duo land, Gohan rushes to the door, enters the passcode into the keypad and waits for the door to slide open. Immediately as the door opens wide enough, he bursts through calling out for Bulma. Bulma rushes to them wondering what's going on, but when she notices Chi-Chi she doesn't need to ask and leads the two to the medical wing.

Once Chi-Chi is situated and Bulma had called for her personal doctor for assistance, goes out of the room to talk to Gohan for a second. She informs him it'll take a few hours and that he should go spend his time doing whatever he wanted. "I know your mother must hound you about homework, so I won't tell her if you spend the day here doing anything but homework." She winks at him and Gohan smiles at her warmly.

"Thanks a lot, Bulma. I'm getting pretty tired of all the work she makes me do." Gohan replies.

"Don't mention it, kiddo. You need to have time for your hobbies once in a while. Now I should go back in and help your mother, I'll call for you later." Bulma then turns around and walks through the door to help his mother through giving birth to her second child.

After a few hours pass by, Gohan leaves Bulma's lab and heads toward the living room. As he's walking through the halls, he senses a high ki level headed towards him and crosses paths with Vegeta.

"What the hell are you doing here brat?" Vegeta questions him. He crosses his arms and stands in front of Gohan, blocking his path.

Gohan answers, "I brought my mom here since her water broke. Now I'm just waiting to see my baby brother or sister."

Rolling his eyes, Vegeta responds sarcastically, "Great, another spawn of Kakarot, exactly what this world needed." Glancing at Gohan to see what his reaction is. Vegeta's been training every day but without a powerful opponent to test himself against he's progressing slower than he'd like. Seeing Gohan get angry, he smirks and tries to goad him into a fight, "What's wrong brat, don't like when someone disrespects your father?".

"Get out of my way Vegeta, I don't want to start anything right now," Gohan says tiredly. Vegeta hasn't changed much since they met, and he's still as arrogant as ever.

Vegeta's smirk widens, "Come on then, why don't you make me? Too scared to fight me, not surprising, while you're wasting your time doing nothing, I'm training and getting stronger by the day."

Gohan shakes his head before saying, "You know I'm stronger than you. Don't get cocky and start a fight you can't win." Hearing this, Vegeta laughs in his face and starts walking by.

"You won't be stronger than me for long brat. As the days go by and you are getting weaker and your techniques become sloppy, my strength will increase, and my skills will be refined. I am Saiyan royalty, I will achieve that new transformation of yours and when I do, expect the fight of your life so I can stake my claim as the strongest warrior in the universe."

The hours pass by and while Gohan is watching T.V in the living room he sees Bulma with a big smile on her face. "So Gohan, you want to see your new sibling?" she asks excitedly. Gohan nods his head vigorously and follows Bulma to where his mother is.

When they get to the door Bulma opens the door for him and Gohan walks through. There on a bed, he sees his mom holding a bundle and she seems exhausted. She notices Gohan standing a couple feet from the bed and motions him to come closer. "Gohan do you want to hold your baby brother?"

He walks up to his mother's side slowly and holds his arms out. Being careful, she hands him his baby brother, and Gohan makes sure to hold him securely. He gasps when he finally lays his eyes on his brother. "He looks exactly like dad," Gohan says, his eyes welling up a bit from pure happiness. With spiky black hair going in different directions just like their father, he looks like a clone of a baby Goku. "What's his name?".

"Goten." His mother says. A smile forms across Gohan's face hearing his brother's name.

"Hey there Goten, how are you?" Gohan asks although not expecting an answer. Hearing his name, Goten, giggles and reaches out for Gohan. Seeing this, Gohan smiles brightly. 'I'll protect you with my life Goten.' thinking to himself. 'I'll make you proud dad, I'll make sure he gets to live a life full of happiness.'.


	3. Chapter 3

_I do not own Dragon Ball Z, any of it's characters and any other property._

* * *

Chapter 3

Within a clearing in the woods, there's a teenage boy training by himself. Flowing through his motions throwing punches and kicks at an invisible enemy, moving so quickly his limbs start to blur, but to the trained eye, you could clearly see him. At fifteen-years-old Gohan has grown a bit. He's now a bit taller, but his wild spiky hair remains the same. Gone is the purple gi he usually wore and is replaced with a new gi of his own. A sky blue sleeveless gi top covers his torso with a short sleeve black undershirt, along with gray gi pants, a pair of black wristbands, and black boots.

"Big brother look what I found!" a small kid wearing a purple t-shirt and light blue pants with black shoes came running towards Gohan. Finally reaching him, four-year-old Goten skids to a stop. Ever since Goten's been able to play around outside, Gohan was allowed more time outside to supervise him. Usually, he monitors his ki to make sure he doesn't go far away from him while he gets some training done.

Looking over his shoulder, Gohan stops what he's doing and faces his brother, "Yeah, what is it squirt?" Goten is hopping up and down, excitement evident on his face.

Goten stops bouncing and raises his hands. "I found the coolest lizard ever!", opening his hands so his palms are facing upwards reveals a small green lizard. "Isn't it awesome?!" A small smile forms on Gohan's face seeing how happy his brother is.

"It sure is Goten, where did you find it?" Gohan asks

"I was over there in the forest running around and I saw it and just had to pick it up," Goten says while pointing to behind him. The lizard starts crawling up his arm and on to his shoulders and finally to the top of his head, causing him to giggle. "Can I keep him, please Gohan?"

Shaking his head, Gohan responds, "Sorry squirt, I don't think mom would like you keeping a pet lizard, plus his home out here, you wouldn't want to take him from his home, would you?"

"I guess not," Goten says sadly. "Okay, Mr. Lizard I'm gonna take you back where I found you." Seeing his younger brother so sad he tries to think of a way to make it up to him and figures out what to do.

"Hey Goten, hurry back here I've got a surprise for you!" Hearing this Goten perks up and picks up the pace. He runs back to where he came, wandering around looking for the same spot he found the lizard. Finally finding the spot he runs back to Gohan. Ruffling Goten's hair affectionately he asks him if he's ready. Nodding his head frantically in response, Goten sees his brother turn away from him, cups his hands around his mouth and shouts out, "Icarus!"

"Why'd you do that, what's gonna happ-" before he can finish asking his question, Goten hears a loud roar boom through the forest. Over the tree line, the two brothers witness a large purple creature soar through the sky towards them. As it gets closer its features become more distinct. Purple scales covering its body, glistening in the light from the sun, two horns protruding from the crest of its head, and two smaller horns on each side of its head. The dragon's massive wings flapping creates a windstorm around them as it slowly descends. When it lands it shakes the ground, causing Goten to have to hold on to Gohan's leg to keep from falling. Before them is a large twenty-foot dragon with sharp claws on each foot. The dragon's bright blue eyes staring at the two, its long slender tail falling to the ground and its wings folding closer to its body.

"This here is my friend, Icarus," Gohan states happily. "I've known him since I was a kid and it looks like he's grown since I last saw him." Icarus proceeds to move closer to Gohan and lick his face, causing him to laugh and wipe his face with his shirt. "Come on Goten don't be shy, he won't hurt." Slightly pushing Goten towards Icarus.

Goten walks up slowly, "Wow." He says quietly. Icarus lowers his head down to Goten's height and sniffs him before he licks him too. Giggling, Goten wipes off his face and raises his hand to pet Icarus. "He's amazing Gohan, this is the best surprise ever!"

"Don't worry, it gets even better." Goten feels himself getting picked up and Gohan walks over to place Goten on Icarus' back. "Now hang on tight, okay," Gohan tells him. He walks back to the front of Icarus and pats him on the head, "Let's go Icarus, I want you to fly with me for a bit."

Gohan lifts off the ground and Icarus soon follows him. The wind generated from the flapping of his wings causes the trees to sway back and forth wildly, and soon enough, Gohan, Goten, and Icarus are rocketing through the sky.

Feeling the wind to ripple across his face and his messy hair flow freely causes a bright smile to come across his face. Flying always gave Gohan a sense of freedom. Freedom from responsibilities and freedom to do as he wishes. Something he's so desperately wanted. Looking to his left he can see Icarus following nearby. On his back is Goten shouting out in excitement. Screaming loudly, "Faster Icarus, we can't let big brother beat us!" Icarus roars and surges forward, passing Gohan by.

"Oh, so that's how it's going to be." A bright aura flares around Gohan and his speed increases. The three of them continuously fly through the sky, going over the lush forests, Gohan, dropping down, starts swerving in between trees, successfully dodging the limbs poking out to come out unscathed, while Icarus flies high above. Seeing a lake down below, Icarus nose dives and pulls up just before crashing into the water, causing waves to crash across the water and leaving a trail of mist. The three begin to ascend, as Icarus reaches his peak, he turns upside down, doing a loop. Goten loses his grip while their upside down and starts free falling. Before he can hit the ground, Icarus comes swooping down and catches him with his claws, proceeding to toss him back on his back.

A couple of hours go by and Gohan and Icarus land by at the clearing they started from. Goten slides off Icarus and pets him on his head, thanking him. Goten runs over to Gohan, jumps up and gives him a big hug. "Today was the best day ever! Can we do this again tomorrow?"

Gohan smiles widely and rubs his brother's back. "Maybe squirt, but now we need to get going." He positions Goten to sit on his shoulder and turns to pet Icarus warmly. "We need to go, hopefully, we'll see you soon." Icarus licks his face walks away slowly before taking off, flying off in the distance.

Soon enough on their way back they see their home in the distance. Gohan's mood drops slightly, but when he looks at Goten and can tell how happy he is because of the time they spent, it makes it all worth it.

* * *

The next day

The sun was just rising, lighting up this side of the world to signify the start of a new day. The door to Gohan's room opens slightly and through crack Goten leans in to check if his brother his awake or not. Making sure to not be heard, he opens the door up slowly and creeps in, heading towards the bed. Once he gets close enough, Goten crawls up on top next to his brother. After double checking to see if Gohan's still sleeping, Goten grins and gets ready to pounce on him.

"Wake up Gohan!" Hopping up and down on his stomach, he finally awakens from the force of Goten landing on him. "Mom won't let me eat breakfast until you're down there."

Wincing, Gohan raises his arms to catch Goten before he can land on his stomach. "Alright, alright, I'm up calm down," Gohan says groggily. He places Goten down off the bed and onto the floor and starts rubbing his eyes. He looks down at Goten who's smiling innocently and rubbing the back of his head, before asking, "Is this going to be a regular thing now?"

Goten giggles but doesn't say anything and heads out of the room. He gets downstairs and heads to the kitchen. "Hey mom, I woke him up!" Goten says cheerfully.

Chi-Chi looks at her youngest son who's waiting at the table, "That's good dear. Remember that after breakfast I want you to get ready because today you and I are going to Bulma's." She says.

"Yay, I get to play with Trunks today!" Goten exclaims. Goten and Trunks had quickly become best friends. Whenever the two got together, either at the Son residence or Capsule Corp., they would usually spend most of their time playing video games or watching movies. The two half saiyans have always been a handful to take care of. Along with being stronger than the average human child, the two have boundless energy and seem to never tire out.

Gohan finally enters the room and sees piles of food littering the table, his mouth watering from seeing it all. He sits down at the table and immediately he and Goten start digging in. The food seems to magically disappear from how quickly they're eating. After the two are done inhaling their breakfast they mimic each other and lean back while scratching the back of their heads, saying "Thanks mom that was great!" Goten hops down from his chair and goes to his room to get ready to leave.

Gohan starts picking up the dishes from the table and heads to the sink to help his mother with doing the dishes. He places them in a pile and turns on the faucet. One by one, he and his mother clean all the plates, bowls, and utensils that were used. "Gohan, Goten and I are visiting Bulma in just a few minutes." Chi-Chi says.

"That's nice, how long do you think you'll be there for?" In his mind, Gohan is hoping his mother and brother will be over there for a good amount of time. With his mother all the way in West City, he can get a full day of training in, something he hasn't had for quite a long time.

Wiping off a plate with a towel, Chi-Chi tilts her head to the side, thinking of how long it'll be. "Probably most of the day. You know how Bulma and I are. We could spend the whole day talking to each other, and Goten doesn't have anyone other than you or Trunks to play with and it's been at least a week since we've last been there." She stops what's she's doing and looks over at her oldest son. _'Come to think of it, Gohan doesn't spend any time with people his own age. Hmm, maybe when he's older I'll send him to high school so he can get a diploma and he'll make some friends.'_

On the inside, Gohan is jumping for joy. Hearing his mom will be gone for most of the day is music to his ears. Trying to contain his excitement, he glances at his mother and replies "Yeah, he and Trunks love playing together, it's good that he's got such a close friend."

As they finish up, Goten hops down the stairs, goes to the living room, and sits down on the couch. "Mom I'm ready!" he calls out.

In the kitchen, Chi-Chi washes her hands and then leans into Gohan, kissing him on the cheek. "We'll be back later dear, behave yourself while we're gone." Gohan smiles and nods.

"You should get going, you don't want to be late." Gohan waiting impatiently, trying to get her to leave sooner. _'The quicker they're gone, the more time to myself I'll have.'_ He watches his mother leave. Her and Goten leave the house a minute later, and Gohan can hear his little brother call out for Nimbus, and as quick as Nimbus arrived, it took off carrying Chi-Chi and Goten.

Gohan pumps his fists in excitement. Rushing out the front door, he quickly materializes his own gi and takes flight, heading to his usual training spot.

* * *

It's been around eight hours now since Goten and Chi-Chi arrived at Capsule Corp. Upstairs in his room, a boy with lavender hair and blue eyes is playing with his best friend Goten. Trunks and Goten are best friends, but they are always competing against one another. Today, the two are playing a racing game on his game console. In the room, Trunks is sitting on his bed, with the controller in hand focusing intently on the screen across the room. On the wall hangs a fifty-inch television and its display is split in two. On the top half of the screen, it shows a black sports car drifting around a curve and then speeding off with no one in front of him, clearly showing he's in first place. On the bottom half of the screen, it has a view of a red sports car, coming up on the curve that the black car had just driven by.

Sitting next to Trunks is Goten. Seeing he's just a bit behind Trunks, he leans forward from where he's sitting as if that would make his car drive faster. After rounding the curve just as Trunks had a few seconds ago, they both enter a straightaway. Goten's car is right behind Trunks', but it's too late as Trunks passes the finish line, and on his half of the screen in bright gold lettering displays he came in first place. A second later Goten passes by as well, coming in second place.

Placing the controller down, Goten pouts and crosses his arms. "No fair you cheated."

"What, how could I have cheated I beat you fair and square?" Trunks asks incredulously and turning his head to look at his friend.

Breathing out his nose, Goten replies "I don't know, I just don't like losing that's all. Let's race again, I bet I'll beat you this time!" He picks up his controller and selects a rematch, waiting for Trunks to do the same.

Trunks snorts in amusement, "In your dreams Goten, there's no way I can lose." He presses the option for a rematch and the screen switches to a virtual garage to where they can select what cars they want to drive.

Before the race can start up, Trunks looks over at Goten and asks, "Hey Goten, does Gohan ever train you?"

"Train me? In what?" Goten asks curiously.

Trunks sighs, "In martial arts dumby. My dad started training me a while ago. He's the strongest in the world and he could probably beat up your brother." Before Goten responds, the television flashes, and on it shows the two cars waiting for the countdown to end, signifying the start of the race.

Shaking his head, Goten responds without looking from the screen. "No, should I ask him if he could?"

"Yeah! If Gohan starts training you then we can fight when you come over. It would be so much fun!" Trunks replies.

Downstairs in the living room is Bulma and Chi-Chi. Since she got here, they've been sitting there chatting about all that's been going on in their lives, with the television on in the background. The room they're in is quite luxurious. Being the heiress of Capsule Corp. has its bonuses. On the floor of the room is a large lush carpet, the furniture consists of a white couch in a U shape with plush pillows on each end. Nearby it is two white chairs, and in between the chairs and couch is a coffee table with magazines situated on top a few coasters to place any drinks on them. A fireplace on one side of the room, and on the mantle has a few pictures of the Brief family. On the wall above hangs a large television in a spot anyone would have a good view of it. Dangling from the ceiling is a beautiful chandelier that lights up the whole room.

"So Chi, how's Gohan doing?" The Capsule Corp. heiress asks. _'I wonder if she's still working that kid into the ground.'_ Thinking that last part to herself.

Always proud to talk about how smart her son is, Chi-Chi speaks up enthusiastically, "He's doing wonderful. He spends most of his time studying and I think he's going to become a very successful man when he gets older!"

'_Why am I not surprised?'_, Bulma takes a sip from her coffee before replying. "I'm sure he'll make you proud Chi. He's a genius." Bulma has always thought of Gohan as a second son. The two have been through a lot together. They had gone off to Namek with Krillin, and what an experience that was. Finding ways to survive while all alone on an alien planet far from home. Having to stay out of sight from Frieza and his minions for as long as possible, and suddenly escaping from the planet via the dragon balls before it exploded. "Hey Chi, I still have some textbooks from when I used to attend West City University. It's one of the best universities in the world and I bet it could challenge him more than whatever work he's doing now. I could give you some to have Gohan work on." Bulma offers.

"That's a great idea Bulma, thank you." Chi-Chi accepts the offer. Bulma nods and stands up from the chair she was sitting in.

Walking into her office, Bulma starts searching around for her old textbooks. Opening the cabinet next to her desk she sees three textbooks from her old university. _'Now what to do. Hmm.'_ She goes to her desk and opens the top drawer, pulling out a notebook and a pen. _'I hope this helps a little bit.'_ She writes something down on a piece of paper and rips it out of the notebook before putting it inside one of the textbooks. Before she leaves, she takes some more stacks of papers and slides them under that original piece of paper she wrote on.

When she gets back to the living room, she places the textbooks on the coffee table in front of Chi-Chi. "Here you go, these are the only ones I could find, but I'm sure there's some more laying around here somewhere. Just give me a call whenever Gohan is done with them and you can send him over to bring them back." Bulma says.

"This is amazing Bulma, what can I do to repay you?" Chi-Chi asks.

Shaking her head, Bulma says, "There's no need to worry about that, I'm happy to help Gohan with whatever he needs."

Chi-Chi gets off from the couch and hugs Bulma closely. "You're the best Bulma." She releases Bulma, and when she turns around, she notices the time on the clock. "Oh gosh, I didn't know we've been here this long already. Time sure does fly by now doesn't it." She says.

"I'll go upstairs to Trunks' room and get the two rascals." Bulma goes upstairs and knocks on his door before opening it. She walks in and sees Goten and Trunks sitting on his bed still playing their video games. "Hey Goten, your mom said its time for you two to head back home."

Hearing Bulma, Goten pauses the game. "Aww, but do we have to leave already?" He whines.

"Afraid so. Don't worry you can come back soon so you can play with Trunks again." Bulma says reassuringly. Goten slides off the bed and walks to the corner of the room where he put his shoes. He slips them on his feet and waves to his friend.

"Bye Trunks." Goten says.

"Yeah, see you next time." Trunks presses a few buttons on his controller to exit from the game. He walks over to his game console and ejects the disk, putting it back in its case and then opening another one, and putting that game into the console.

Bulma and Goten head back down to Chi-Chi. "I'll walk you both out." Bulma leads them back to the front door and opens it for them. When they get outside, Bulma crouches down and hugs Goten. After that, she stands up and looks back and forth between him and Chi-Chi. "Don't be strangers its always fun having you guys over."

Chi-Chi and Goten say they'll be sure to visit as much as they can. Goten walks a couple feet away and calls out for the Nimbus cloud. It zooms towards them and skids to a stop next to them. Mother and son hop on and wave good-bye to Bulma before commanding Nimbus to take them back home.

* * *

The two of them get back to their home on Mt. Paozu and go inside. Goten goes to take a quick shower, and Chi-Chi, carrying the textbooks Bulma gave her, decides to give them to Gohan. She knocks on his door and hears him call out to come in. She opens his door and walks in.

"Hey mom, back already? Gohan asks. Already knowing that answer since he was regularly checking on her ki to know when she was on her way home so he could stop training in time to be back before them.

Setting the books down on his desk, she says, "Yes dear, we just got back. While we were there Bulma offered to let you study from her old university textbooks. She said they're more difficult from the work you do now and said it'd be a nice challenge for you."

Trying to keep himself from frowning, Gohan replies, "More work huh. That's, uh, nice." Scratching the back of his head. _'What's Bulma thinking, doesn't she know how much my mom makes me do already?'_

"Whenever you're done with these, just call Bulma ahead of time before going over to drop these off." Chi-Chi says. "I'll go and get dinner ready." She gives her son a kiss on the cheek before leaving his room, closing the door behind her.

Gohan takes one of the books from the stack and opens it up to the first page. Inside he sees the pile of papers Bulma had put inside earlier. Grabbing the folded paper from the top and opens it up and sees that it's a letter.

_Dear Gohan,_

_I know Chi-Chi must make you work for hours and hours on some boring assignments and reading textbooks that don't interest you. I was able to get her to replace some of your work with these textbooks because these are more challenging. While that's true, that's not why I wanted to give you these. I know how interested you are in science and engineering, so I wanted to help you out. Underneath this letter are some notes and sketches for some inventions I've thought about before. I never got around to completing them because some more pressing matters came up. These have been laying around gathering dust, but I think someone as brilliant as you could finish them. If you don't want to that's okay and you can bring them back over, but if you do, once you're finished come back and I'll get you more to get started on. I think you have a ton of potential, and not fully realizing it would be a mistake._

_Love, Bulma_


	4. Chapter 4

_I do not own Dragon Ball Z, any of it's characters and any other property._

* * *

Chapter 4

It was the day after Goten, and Chi-Chi visited the Brief family. Gohan had spent the whole day training before they came home, and his body was completely sore. When the two of them had left he contacted Piccolo telepathically to inform him that he could finally get a real day of training done. Piccolo had flown down from the Lookout to meet Gohan in their usual training location and they began. He hadn't had the opportunity to train that much in one day in years and it showed. During their spar, it seemed like Piccolo was able to keep up with him and land hits that Gohan would otherwise be able to dodge. The lack of serious training seemed to be taking its toll, Piccolo couldn't defeat Gohan while he was in his Super Saiyan form, but it was closer than it should've been. Obviously if Gohan transformed into a Super Saiyan 2 he could've ended the fight quickly, but that wouldn't have been much use. In the morning he had sluggishly gotten out of bed and prepared for the day. When he was given time to go outside along with Goten he didn't particularly feel like training today.

Out by a lake was Gohan and Goten, with fishing rods in hand relaxing and trying to catch some fish to eat. When he was alive, Goku would always take Gohan fishing and so Gohan decided it'd be a good idea to bring his little brother with him and enjoy some time together. The lake they were at was surrounded by trees and the water was a deep blue, it was one of his favorite fishing spots. When they had to catch fish for food, Gohan would usually just dive down in the water and catch the fish with his bare hands, but right now he wanted to have some fun.

Goten reeled back in the line and cast it back out, the bait hitting the water and causing it to ripple across the lake. Ever since yesterday he's been thinking about what Trunks said. The idea of training with his big brother was awesome and getting to fight Trunks was too. Him and Trunks would be able to get stronger together and help save people. Gohan always told stories about their father. How he had destroyed the Red Ribbon Army when he was just a kid. How he defeated Demon King Piccolo not long after. Fought evil space aliens on another planet, becoming a warrior of legend, the fabled Super Saiyan.

He wanted to be just like him. That desire to help others must have passed down to him, just like it had been passed to Gohan. He knew Gohan was strong as well. He had heard about him saving the world from some green monster named Cell, but some weird guy with an afro had made the world believe he had done it instead.

Goten knew his brother still tried to train himself as much as he could. When he had found him out in the woods a long time ago, he had asked him about it. Gohan had told him, but asked he not tell their mother because she wouldn't like him doing that. That's what he was worried about, he definitely did not want to get his mom mad at him. Broken out of his thoughts, he feels his line being tugged and the pole started bending. He jerked the fishing pole to the side and started reeling it in.

"Hey nice job Goten, you hooked one!" his brother Gohan called

The fish didn't put up much of a fight, and Goten was able to pull the fish up to the bank they were standing on. It was about ten inches long and it was flopping around on the ground. Goten walked towards it and dropped his fishing rod to the ground. He grabbed the fish with one hand and pried the hook from the fish's mouth with the other.

"That's a decent sized one Goten way to go!" Gohan said enthusiastically. "You should set it back in the water soon, there's much bigger fish in here we could catch for food." All the time he's spent out here, he knows how big some of the fish living in this lake could be. Some were bigger than Goten down there they could be lucky enough to snag.

Goten nodded and looked down at the fish was last time before carefully setting the fish back in the water. As soon as he let go, the fish shot off further into the lake. Goten picked up his fishing rod and walked a few feet to a different spot on the bank. He put on some new bait and reeled it in a bit. In one fluid motion he pulled back his arms and swung them back forward casting out the line once again.

Back to thinking about ways to ask Gohan to train him, without their mom finding out, he doesn't notice Gohan talking to him.

Gohan hears his brother's fishing rod whine as the line is being dragged by another fish that had taken the bait. He looks over at Goten but sees him not doing anything to try and catch it. "Goten, you're going to let that fish get away if you don't do something soon." Goten still doesn't do anything and is just standing still, seemingly lost in thought, oblivious to the world around him.

Worrying, Gohan walks over to his little brother and puts a hand on his head. "Hello? Earth to Goten." Finally, noticing his older brother and the fish dragging his line he starts to reel it in but soon enough the hook comes undone and it gets away.

"I wasn't paying attention." Goten pouts and reels back in his line. He looks over at his brother who's still standing next to him with a quizzical look on his face. "What's wrong Gohan?" He asks

Gohan shakes his head, "Nothing is wrong squirt, but it looked like you were thinking about something and you let that fish get away." Goten nods his head. "So, what was it?"

Goten looks back up and asks, "What was what?"

"What were you thinking about just now?" Seeing his younger brother start getting a little nervous, he ruffles his hair and says, "Don't be nervous Goten. You can tell me anything, whatever you need, I'm there for you."

Hearing those encouraging words, Goten decides to ask him about it. He thinks that there's no better time than now to bring it up and speaks up. "Well, you know how mom and I went to Trunks' house yesterday?" Gohan nods in affirmation and he continues, "We were upstairs in his room playing some video games, and he asked me if you trained me. He said his dad started training him a few months ago and he thought it'd be a good idea if I started training with you. Trunks and I could spar together whenever we hang out and it'd be so much fun. You could teach me all you know, and we could spend even more time together."

Gohan starts thinking it over in his head. He's thought about this before, but he's been putting it off for a couple reasons. One is his mom, and the second is he doesn't want his brother to go through the things he did. Gohan had a rough childhood, having to train rigorously to survive all those fights him, and his friends were involved in. Eventually he did want to start training his brother, but only when he was older. "Maybe Goten, when you're older, but for now why don-"

Goten cuts him off before he can continue any further. "No Gohan, I want to start training now. Learning to fight and being able to do the things you do would be awesome. You've told me stories about dad, about how he helped people whenever he could. He would try his best to save them and make their lives better. That's what I want to do, I want to be a hero just like you and dad."

Gohan is taken back by how determined he is about this. Hearing his younger brother say he wants to be a hero just like him and their dad causes his eyes to tear up but doesn't allow them to fall. How can he say no now? His brother looks up to him and making him wait would just make Goten unhappy. Smiling widely, he chooses to help him out. He gets on a knee and hugs his brother tightly. "Alright then. If you want to train together, we can, but remember we can't let mom know about this." He lets go of Goten and looks at him.

Jumping up and down, Goten yells out, "Yay! We're going to have so much fun; I'll get even stronger than Trunks!" Giving Gohan another hug to show is appreciation.

Gohan laughs a little, picks up his brother and stands up, placing Goten on his shoulder. "Yes, we will, but I want you to know before we start that sometimes it won't be fun, and when we're done after each day you'll be tired and worn out."

"That's okay, I'll do whatever it takes to be as strong as you!"

Gohan gathers their fishing rods and leaves the lake with Goten on his shoulder. He takes him to his usual training spot and sets Goten back down on the ground. "We're here, now we need to get you in a gi so you don't mess your clothes up." He points his finger at Gohan, charges up some ki and releases, a bright light covers Goten and when it vanishes, he's standing there in an orange and blue gi, very reminiscent of their father's, but instead of short blue sleeves, Goten is wearing a long blue sleeved undershirt. After that, Gohan changes his own clothes into his usual training outfit.

"Now how should I start this. I've never actually done this before." Gohan starts muttering to himself, but Goten can still hear him. Gohan eyes light up as he gets an idea, "Maybe I should get Piccolo down here and help." After saying that his shoulders slump a bit, "No, he'd probably just toss Goten at a mountain to make him unlock his ki."

Goten hears this and starts freaking out. "WHAT?! Throw me at a mountain, please, please, please don't do that, that would really hurt!" Goten has seen Piccolo a few times training with Gohan. To him and many others, Piccolo scares him a bit based off his appearance. Knowing what Piccolo would do to him amplified that fear a bit.

Gohan turns to his brother and sees the fearful expression on his face and tries to calm him down. "No! Don't worry Goten, he wouldn't do that." Thinking to himself, '_At least I hope he'd have changed training methods by now'_ He proceeds to explain himself to Goten, "I was just brainstorming some ideas. Piccolo was the one that trained me, and was thinking about having him help me out, but not just yet. I'll teach you some of the basics first before I have him teach you some of what he knows." Gohan sits down on the grass and crosses his legs. He motions for Goten to do the same, before explaining what they're going to do.

"I'm ready, what are you gonna teach me first?" Goten asks excitedly

A smile appears on Gohan's face seeing how eager his brother is to get started. "Since we don't have much time left before we need to get home, I think I'll teach you how to bring out your ki first. For most people, learning how to use their ki might take a long time, but since you and I are half saiyan, it comes more naturally to us." He moves his hands close together and cups them, with his palms facing to the sky. A second later, a ball of ki appears. "This is just a small bit of ki that I pulled out. So, to do this, you need to close your eyes and keep yourself completely calm. Then you need to search within yourself, and find your ki, once you do that all you need to do is bring it out."

"Yes, sir!" Goten follows Gohan's lead by cupping his hands out in front of him. Ten minutes go by, and as what happened to Gohan earlier, a small ball of ki appears in Goten's hands.

"Okay Goten, you can open your eyes now." He does and once he sees the ball of ki in his hands a giant smile forms on his face.

"I did it, I did it!" Goten shouts out in delight

"Of course, you did, I knew you could do it. Now what I want you to do is to add a little more of your ki into that ball. After that, aim your hand at the tree over to your right. Release the energy from your hand and you'll have fired your first ki blast."

A few seconds later, Goten raises one arm and aims his hand toward the tree on the right. He narrows his eyes in concentration and releases the energy from his hand. The ball of ki flies through the air heading directly for the tree. When it makes contact, a small explosion occurs, gathering dust and dirt around where it hit, concealing the tree from their vision. When the dust clears, the tree isn't there anymore, as Goten's blast completely obliterated it.

"That was so cool!" Goten says

"Yeah, that was pretty great." Gohan replies. '_Man, I didn't think that he'd shoot a blast that strong, I thought he'd make a hole in the tree at most, not destroy it entirely.' _Clearing his throat, he gains Goten's attention. "That was good Goten, but we'll need to get you to master your ki control. As you can see, it can be dangerous if enough energy is gathered in one blast."

Goten smiles at his brother before responding, "I'll be careful. I'm gonna try my best to get really good at it."

Gohan smiles gently back and says, "I know you will. Now what I want you to do before time runs out is to keep bringing out your ki and keep it in check. If you throw any ki blasts, make sure they're weaker than the one you just made, we wouldn't want to run out of trees around here would we?"

* * *

A few days had gone by, and Gohan has taught Goten more about ki control. He can form ki blasts with ease, and even fly a bit, but he can't fly long distances yet. He's having some trouble with focusing and maintaining a consistent amount of hi underneath him to aid him in flight. Today, Gohan decides to start teaching him the basics of the Turtle Style of martial arts. It was the first style their father learned and so Gohan thought it would be fitting for it to be the first one that Goten learns as well.

In the woods the two could be seen flowing through the motions of a basic kata. Gohan standing in front of Goten so his little brother could follow along with his movements. They two had started about an hour ago.

Turning his hips and throwing a fist out, Goten asks "Hey Gohan, when do you think we could spar?"

"Not for a couple more days, squirt. I want you to have some of the basics down before we begin. Then after that we can spar. That's what we will probably do most of the time." Gohan replies, sending out a kick with his left leg, and Goten following a long.

"I was wondering…"

"Yeah, what's up?" Gohan says

"Whenever I hang out with Trunks, he always says his dad is the strongest in the world, but I don't think that's true. You were the one who saved the world from that Cell monster, not Mr. Vegeta." Goten says

Gohan smiles proudly, and puffs out his chest a bit, "That's right Goten. I'm still the strongest in the world. It's true that Vegeta is really powerful, he's a Super Saiyan as well, but I unlocked a transformation that he doesn't have. It's called Super Saiyan 2, and when I transform, my power skyrockets, my hair gets spikier, and electricity surrounds me."

"Wow! I want to be a Super Saiyan 2 someday!" Goten says cheerfully

"If you put in the work, I'm sure you will be one day."

* * *

Gravity Room at Capsule Corp.

Just the same as every day, Vegeta is undergoing rigorous training by himself. Wearing his blue spandex suit and saiyan armor, a golden haired Vegeta is throwing punches and kicks at an invisible enemy. He hasn't left for days now. Bulma has started getting worried seeing him torture his body on his conquest to find greater power. With the cameras on the walls of the room, she's able to monitor him and she frequently watches to see if he's still going.

"Hey Vegeta." A voice calls out

He stops what he's doing and looks around at the empty gravity room. "Who's there? Show yourself before I blast you into oblivion." He turns around in a circle one more time to see once again he's all alone. '_Now I'm hearing things. I can't stop until I reach the second level. For a second there it almost sounded li—'_

"Vegeta. Behind you." The voice says to him again.

Vegeta whirls around quickly to see who is there before they can vanish again. His eyes widen in shock when he sees who stands before him. His eternal rival, Goku. "What?! Impossible, you're dead." He says shakily

Goku smirks at him, "Just wanted to check in on you. See how weak you are." His smirk widens when he sees the angry expression on Vegeta's face. "Just as I thought, still weaker than me. You know you'll never catch up. My son and I will always be one step ahead of you."

"Don't make me laugh, that half breed of a son of yours barely trains as it is. I doubt you have gotten much stronger since you died." Vegeta replies

Goku grunts and immediately he transforms. Instead of the normal Super Saiyan form, his hair is spiked up even more. There are two bangs hanging off on each side of his head, while one larger one in the middle, falling right in front of his eyes. "Is that a fact?" Seeing the dumbstruck look on Vegeta's face and starts laughing.

"Don't you dare mock me!" Vegeta charges up his ki, a bright golden aura encircles his body and flares outward. He charges at Goku, launching a punch aimed at his face. Goku, dodges with ease, titling his head to the side. Vegeta attempts to uppercut him, but once again Goku dodges.

Goku moves to the side and backflips away. Landing on his feet, he looks directly at Vegeta, raising one arm and gestures for him to try again. "C'mon Vegeta, is that all you've got. I don't think you can even hit me." Enraged, Vegeta unleashes a large ki wave at him, but Goku phases away appearing in the air. The saiyan prince rockets off the ground to once again attempt to beat his rival into the ground.

"Damn it! Stop moving would you!" He sends a barrage of punches at Goku, but all of them miss. Goku moving just in time to dodge and keeping Vegeta from landing a hit.

Laughing in his face, Goku says, "What is this pathetic excuse of a fight, is this all you've got? I thought you were the prince of all saiyans. Someone as weak as you doesn't deserve that title. How could you let a _third class_ like me surpass you?"

Screaming in rage, Vegeta sends a roundhouse kick right at his opponent's head, but that too misses. Panting from exhaustion, Vegeta lands on the tile floor of the gravity room. "Fuck you, Kakarot!" His aura flares out wildly, increasing in size. Gritting his teeth, he gets up into a powering up stance. He clenches his fists and bends his knees. "I'll show you what the prince of all saiyans can do! I'll show everyone! Your brat won't be the strongest warrior in the universe for long!"

Vegeta lets out a roar, powering up as much as possible. The whole room starts shaking, and the gravity machine display starts going out of control. His body starts aching in pain. The amount of ki he's outputting is more than he's ever done. A brief streak of electricity flashes by him. He can feel the barrier to the next level. _'It's right there! I can sense it!'_ He pushes through the pain to go even further. He needs to do this; he's never been closer to unlocking the next level than now. Screaming out in pain and desperation for one final time, he smashes through that barrier within himself, and the amount of ki he's outputting multiplies. A bright flash of light engulfs the entirety of the room, completing the transformation. Standing there taking deep breaths, is Vegeta as a Super Saiyan 2. His hair standing up firmer, and bolts of electricity encircles his golden aura.

"I've finally done it!" Letting out a laugh, before he turns around, he says, "Prepare yourself Kakarot!" He sees no one. He's all alone in the gravity room once again. "What? What the hell is going on?" He asks himself out loud. Turning from side to side to make sure to try and make sense of what's happening. He clenches his fist and flexes his arms. '_My power is unbelievable! It won't be much longer until I fight that brat to claim my right as the strongest saiyan alive. He better not disappoint.'_


End file.
